On August 29, 1828, a ship carrying Leon Bernard, his wife, Catherine (Kilker) Bernard, and their seven children arrived in New York, New York. From there, the Bernard family traveled west, first settling in Perry County, Ohio, before moving again to Mercer County, more specifically the area near Maria Stein. Since this area was popular with German immigrants of the time, Leon's children and grandchildren married into German families. (For those of you reading this who are related to my husband, Leon's granddaughter, Maria Magdalena Bernard, married Joseph Rolfes in 1865 and they are two of Rita Brunswick's great-grandparents through her Dad's (Brunswick) line. So, Leon and Catherine are Tony's 5x great-grandparents!)

The Bernard Family was from the small town of Réchésy, located in eastern France right on the border with Switzerland. According to his children's birth records, Leon worked as a shoemaker (cordonnier) in the village.

Location of Réchésy, France, courtesy of Google Maps

Last year, when I was working on creating my genealogy map wall, I bought a early 20th century postcard depicting Réchésy.

Early 20th Century Photo of Réchésy

I recently stumbled upon this modern photo of Réchésy (below) on the Panoramio.com website. (Photographer is Mr. Yves Bamberger.) The perspective of both photos is very similar, and it seems as if the village has not changed too much over the centuries. This French Wikipedia page for Réchésy lists population data for the village, starting in 1793 and continuing to 2011. In 1793, four years after the birth of Leon Bernard, the population of Réchésy was 606. It appears that the population grew to 1200+ in the 1880s, but declined in the 20th century. Today there are approximately around 800 people in the town.

Modern-Day Photo of Réchésy (Mr. Yves Bamberger)

The church pictured is L'église Saint Jean-Baptiste. According to this Réchésy heritage website, it was built around 1850-1860, when the population of the town started growing larger. So, this particular structure was not there when the Bernard family lived in the village, but there was surely some sort of smaller chapel/church were residents worshiped and received the Catholic sacraments.

I clipped a few screenshots of the streets of Réchésy from Google StreetView. The streets appear quite hilly, which is to be expected in the foothills of the Alps. There is also a distinctive Alsace architectural look to some of the buildings, which makes the village very picturesque indeed. (Click on images for larger view.)

Image Source: Google Map Street View

Image Source: Google Maps Street View

Image Source: Google Maps Street View

Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to stumble through this cemetery on the hillside!

Image Source: Google Maps Street View

And this screenshot below may actually be my favorite, because of the 'Beurnevesin' directional sign. According to Leon and Catherine's civil marriage record, Catherine Kilker was born in Beurnevesin, Switzerland, a small village located just a few kilometers from Réchésy.

A kind volunteer with the FindAGrave.com network recently photographed this tombstone for me. This is Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes, one of my husband's ggg-grandmothers on his mom's side of the family. (Rita Brunswick Tumbush was her great-granddaughter.) The gravestone is located in St. John's Catholic Church Cemetery in Maria Stein, Ohio.

Magdalena was the daughter of Joseph Bernard, a French immigrant, and Anna Maria Kemper, who, according to U.S. Census data, was born in Pennsylvania. They were married in Mercer County, Ohio on June 13, 1839. Magdalena was born in Maria Stein, but I have not yet been able to determine Magdalena's exact date of birth; her obituary from The Minster Post (below) states that she was 76 yrs, 2 months, and 7 days old at the time of death. That would put her year of birth at 1846, which may not be correct since her older brother's death certificate has 1846 as HIS year of birth. Magdalena's death certificate lists her year of birth as 1856, which is completely off.

Magdalena Bernard Rolfes Obituary, The Minster Post, 29 Sep 1922

Magdalena married Joseph Rolfes on May 2, 1865 in Mercer County. They lived and worked on a farm in Mercer County's Marion Township, right next to Magdalena's parents, and the two families are listed on the same pages in the 1870 and 1880 U.S. Censuses. The 1900 census lists her as having had 13 children, although I can find birth and/or death records for only 12. Unfortunately, her husband, Joseph, passed away in 1883 when he was only 41 years old. Her oldest child, Henry, was only 17 years old at the time and she had many other little ones to care for. Magdalena did not remarry and, with her children's help, must have kept the farm going, because in the 1900 census she is listed as a farmer and the head of the household. In her later years, she lived with her two daughters, Katherine and Caroline, and her son, Anthony. Katherine worked as a dressmaker to support the family and Anthony worked as a farm laborer.